I have always said that it’s the localized disasters which have the most impact on folks, not the major event that may or may not come in the next year or decade. As such it’s our duty to prepare for the most likely events in the best way we can, for me it’s currently water shortages.
There is no water on my land here in the mountains and my well is 500 feet deep, powered by an electric pump. Rain is scarce here and there truly hasn’t been much snow either. While that combined with blue skies and mild temps make for nice weather it also could mean a very dry summer. There are already homes in the mountains that have gone completely dry, no water coming up from the wells at all. Talk about SHTF.
For certain water is still readily available through other means be it on site water storage, or running down to town to obtain more in larger containers. Still I don’t think most understand the major inconvenience a long term water “outage” would be when you consider each person uses roughly 2-4 gallons a day. Those stats take into consideration drinking, bathing, cooking and even doing things like flushing toilets. It adds up quick especially for a family, those handful of water bottle 40 packs end up being gone really quickly.
So what is there to do? I do have a moderately substantial water storage plan in place on site and since I can’t make it rain or snow, that really is my best option should things get super dry at some point. I continue to add to the storage by using 7 gallon containers or 3.5 gallon water bricks, just easier to move around and transport if necessary. While I do have large 55 gallon barrels once they are filled they aren’t going anywhere and you have to pump the liquid out of them. Side note: There is a river about 15 minutes away, I don’t forsee myself driving down there to load up containers but it’s always there as a last resort.
The most optimal course of action is to do what I’m doing at this point, recognize the potential for disaster and get out ahead of it as much as possible. That takes prioritization and the understanding that even one’s best efforts might not be good enough. There is no way I have enough water on site to outlast a multi month outage with no other means of obtaining more, I suppose it if comes to that it will be time to load up and head out. Hopefully it won’t come to that, we shall see.
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Good post. It will be increasingly relevant as climate change worsens.
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Thanks David, I fear you are correct.
Water storage is very difficult! We have a 250 gallon tank that we use as back-up water for the animals, our garden will be SOL. We have it on a short tower to use the force of gravity, but we use the tanked water to fill animal water buckets/tanks, then refill the 250 gallon tank from the reservoir-fed city water line. We have 55 gallon barrels set up to catch rain and snow water for gardening water but it is quite dry here so not much help there! We keep about 30 gallons of bottled water on hand (I know, not enough) and have two 100 gallon bladders that fill and stay in the bath tubs and eight 6 gallon jugs that we rotate into the 250 gallon tank on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, must of this storage depends on a city water line to fill up so in a sudden event like an EMP that takes out the electrical grid our refill options will be minimal. The local ground water has a lot of sulfur in it and getting a well permit is not even going to happen (except maybe after a catastrophe). The only other option in an emergency is a river approximately 5 miles away. Making a trail run for this is difficult since the local authorities would consider this theft of public resources! Thanks a lot for nothing! GLAHP!
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Good analysis. Looks like you have a good primary and backup plan in place, keep on truckin!
I believe we may see Wars fought over water in the future? A possibility?
Least case scenario price gouging. As water is a commodity. Think back to an old western movie, bad guys overtaking the well, blocking of dams, etc..
Glad I don’t live in California.
I do have some nice filters from Just Water, reasonable, can be washed and reused. This is one of my preps I have felt best about.
Space shuttle has limited water supply and can drink filtered urine. A Reverse Asmosis system is some what of an option, but I don’t believe will yield much quantity.
Good topic, thanks got me thinking
I believe the army had a saying for such circumstances. It was the four P’s. P____ Poor Prior Planing, but that is no excuse. When I bought my 10 acres of heaven, I found a nice hill that ended at a creek which was my property line. So half of it is mine. That is one water source. I then had a well witcher find water on the high side of the hill. I then put in a 1000 gallon cistern above the house site. It will gravity feed into the house. That is prior planning. God bless those how are dry.
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Absolutely true! I have a stream that is about a mile down from the property, but it’s 1300 feet drop in elevation and the trail is almost undrivable. Can’t imagine having to go down there to collect water, sounds like your 10 acres is paradise!
Here in Southern Illinois, we just went through a major water shortage situation when our main water source, Red Lake, had its primary pipe break. We were under a boil water order and most places lost water.
It’s was crazy here! For three days, reports of fights breaking out over bottle water in stores. Normal water pressure and supply was restored in five days.
I would hate to see what would happen if it lasted over a week!
I was luckier than most, I work at a state level correctional facility and help run the dietary. Short of field bathing at home and missing my daily fountain soda, I was good. I had plenty of bottled water and enough bulk water. But just moving into an apartment, I see the need to reorganize and maybe even see a need for a small storer unit for some preps and back ups and equipment.